An unprecedented leak of documents shared exclusively in Canada with CBC News is revealing the closely guarded investment information of more than 100,000 people around the world, including hundreds of Canadians.

"According to the CBC, there was a massive leak of “files containing information on over 120,000 offshore entities — including shell corporations and legal structures known as trusts — involving people in over 170 countries. The leak amounts to 260 gigabytes of data, or 162 times larger than the U.S. State Department cables published by WikiLeaks in 2010…In many cases, the leaked documents expose insider details of how agents would incorporate companies in Caribbean and South Pacific micro-states on behalf of wealthy clients, then assign front people called “nominees” to serve, on paper, as directors and shareholders for the corporations — disguising the companies’ true owners.”

They sought the utmost secrecy in offshore tax havens. But now some of the world’s wealthiest citizens are having their undisclosed financial records laid bare.

An unprecedented leak of documents is revealing the closely guarded investment information of more than 100,000 people around the world, including hundreds of Canadians.

n what is believed to be one of the largest ever leaks of financial data, the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has received nearly 30 years of data entries, emails and other confidential details from 10 offshore havens around the world.

CBC News has partnered with the ICIJ over the last seven months to gain exclusive Canadian access to the information. Thirty-seven media outlets in 35 other countries are also involved.

The leak amounts to 260 gigabytes of data, or 162 times larger than the U.S. State Department cables published by WikiLeaks in 2010…In many cases, the leaked documents expose insider details of how agents would incorporate companies in Caribbean and South Pacific micro-states on behalf of wealthy clients, then assign front people called “nominees” to serve, on paper, as directors and shareholders for the corporations — disguising the companies’ true owners."

The leaked data also contains revelations about:

Elite Russian scammers who stole $230 million from the country’s treasury in a deadly heist that sparked a diplomatic row with the U.S.
The fraudster hit with the second-biggest fine in history from Ontario’s stock-market regulator.
Top German, French and Swiss banks that set up thousands of secretive companies in offshore havens for such clients as Thai and Pakistani politicians.

obviously nothing will come of this, as it will just get either buried in the courts, or some scapegoat will be a patsy, or more than likely it will just never get dealt with because money lets you get away with everyfuckingthing

Among those named include a top campaign official in France, the ex-wife of pardoned oil trader Marc Rich, Azerbaijan’s ruling family, the daughter of Imelda Marcos and the late Baron Elie de Rothschild.

Some governments are actually pretty happy about this. Germany fucking hates tax dodgers, and they’re going to be using it to start going after people. Here in Canada there is a lot of anger about this, due to the people involved, and they’ve now setup a hotline so you can inform Revenue Canada about people dodging their taxes, and you get 15% of any money over 100k that the government recovers. A lot of people in Europe are pissed, especially Greece (which is going through austerity measures, while the rich are just hiding their money in these havens).

I really hope something gets done with this. The sheer amount of money in these accounts is incredible.

Worldwide, the Tax Justice Network estimates that between $21 trillion and $32 trillion of private wealth is held offshore, out of reach of national treasuries. The international organization says that translates to up to $280 billion a year in lost taxes — twice what the world’s richest countries spend combined on foreign aid.

This isn’t small change, this is a fucking HUGE ass percentage of money available to the world, that’s just being hidden by these rich scumbags.

obviously nothing will come of this, as it will just get either buried in the courts, or some scapegoat will be a patsy, or more than likely it will just never get dealt with because money lets you get away with everyfuckingthing

None of these corps or CEOs will be brought to trial, just the person that leaked the information, they’ll face 75 years in prison.

I doubt you will see jail time, but no fucking way will every one of these people manage to dodge taxes. They’ll be ordered to pay fines or backtaxes, and begrudgingly they will do so. But politicians will not be sending their bankrollers and supporters and people likely in charge of large parts of the economy, to prison.

WASHINGTON — The tax administrations from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom announced today a plan to share tax information involving a multitude of trusts and companies holding assets on behalf of residents in jurisdictions throughout the world.
The three nations have each acquired a substantial amount of data revealing extensive use of such entities organized in a number of jurisdictions including Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and the Cook Islands. The data contains both the identities of the individual owners of these entities, as well as the advisors who assisted in establishing the entity structure.
The IRS, Australian Tax Office and HM Revenue & Customs have been working together to analyze this data and have uncovered information that may be relevant to tax administrations of other jurisdictions. Thus, they have developed a plan for sharing the data, as well as their preliminary analysis, if requested by those other tax administrations.
“This is part of a wider effort by the IRS and other tax administrations to pursue international tax evasion,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller. "Our cooperative work with the United Kingdom and Australia reflects a bigger goal of leaving no safe haven for people trying to illegally evade taxes.”
There is nothing illegal about holding assets through offshore entities; however, such offshore arrangements are often used to avoid or evade tax liabilities on income represented by the principal or on the income generated by the underlying assets. In addition, advisors may be subject to civil penalties or criminal prosecution for promoting such arrangements as a means to avoid or evade tax liability or circumvent information reporting requirements.
It is expected that this multilateral cooperation and coordinated effort will allow many countries to efficiently process this information and effectively enforce any laws that may have been broken. Increasingly, tax administrations are working together in this way to assist one another in identifying non-compliance with the tax laws.
U.S. taxpayers holding assets through offshore entities are encouraged to review their tax obligations with respect to these holdings, seek professional advice if necessary, and to participate in the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program where appropriate. Failure to do so may result in significant penalties and possibly criminal prosecution.